


Every Little Thing

by justanoutlaw



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Daddy Charming, F/M, Gen, M/M, Memories, Out of Place, Polyamory, Sisters, Threesome - F/M/M, Tumblr Prompt, charming family - Freeform, daddy killian, mama Snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-24
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-04-27 03:56:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,197
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14417160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justanoutlaw/pseuds/justanoutlaw
Summary: When the curse breaks, Emma finds herself feeling on the outside of her family. Her older sister has memories with her parents that she never will, just as they can remember things Alice can't. It's up to her family to help her feel whole again.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Prompted by loboselinaistrash: “Do you remember… ?” Detective Snowing family pretty pretty please.
> 
> An AU where Detective Snowing was a throuple with Alice when the curse was set by Zelena. :) I've grown to love this verse...so feel to leave prompts for it. :)

Time was running out and Killian could hear his wife screaming in the other room. He was missing his youngest being born, but there was a more pressing matter at hand…the little toddler in his arms.

 

“Papa, where’s Mommy?” Alice asked as they raced down the hallway. “And Daddy? Mommy said she was having my baby sister, can I hold her?”

“Not right now, Starfish.” He paused in the doorway of Emma’s nursery, gnawing on his lip. “Just know, I love you more than anything.” He kissed the top of her head. “I need you to be brave.” He went to put her down, but she interrupted him.

“Papa, don’t go!” Alice whined, kicking her legs. “Please!”

He looked down into her big blue eyes and cuddled her close. Emma would have David and Snow to protect her, who was Alice going to have? His spouses would understand. “Okay, baby girl. Papa’s gotchya.”

 

He went into the nursery and sat with her on the floor, holding her close. Alice clung to him, her favorite stuffed rabbit in her arms. There was rattling and he could hear the guards charging in the hallways. Alice was now crying and screaming, he slowly rubbed her back and began to sing a lullaby his mother once had to him. The doors to the nursery swung open and Killian was ready to put up a fight, until he saw his husband. He was bleeding from the shoulder, a bundle of blankets in one arm, a sword in the other.

  
“Daddy!” Alice cried out.

 

David gave her a weak smile and kissed the top of her head. Briefly the two men traded girls and Killian looked down at his youngest in wonder. She was squirming in his arms, but not crying. He kissed the top of her head, feeling the same love for her he had the day Alice was born. He looked up at David, confused.

 

“What’s going on? Why aren’t you two with Snow?”

“Geppetto arrived at the last minute, he told us the truth. The wardrobe…it’ll take two.” He let out a deep breath. “Snow figured you two would be hiding in here…she wants the girls to go into the wardrobe.”

“Is she mad?!?”

“She says that they’ll find their way back to us. Killian, she’s right, this is what’s best. The guards are out there and we can fight them, but what if they hurt our girls?”

 

Killian looked from Emma to Alice, tears brimming in his eyes. He knew his husband was right. Alice was sobbing harder and clinging to her other father with all her might. It was the hardest thing he did, but David placed Alice into the wardrobe and then put Emma into her arms.

  
“Daddy! Papa!” Alice cried out.

“We’ll be together again, one day, Bunny,” David promised, kissing each of them on the head. “When you get to where you are, find an adult. They’ll help you, I promise.”

“I wanna be with you!”

A tear fell down David’s face. “I know. We want to be with you, but we will see you again. I promise.”

 

He shut the doors to the wardrobe and locked it, clinging to Killian’s hand. The guards broke down the doors and together, they both fought them off or at least they tried. David was the first to fall to the ground and while Killian took care of the guard that had harmed his husband, he soon was next. Snow made her way into the room once they were gone, but Zelena had appeared. She dropped down next to her husbands, who had blacked out, tears streaming down her face.

 

She watched as the Wicked Witch threw open the doors to the wardrobe, but it was empty. Great pride filled Snow as she realized that her daughters had gotten away. One day, they would come back to them, one day, they would break the curse. With that knowledge, she wrapped her arms around David and Killian, allowing the curse to envelope them.

* * *

 

Not only were the girls separated from their parents that day, but they also were from one another. Emma was placed with a foster family that had anxiously been awaiting a perfect little baby, while Alice was sent to live in a foster home where it was made clear they only took temporary placements. The two would live out similar yet different fates.

 

While Emma had a new family the first three years of her life, she was soon shuffled back into the system when they had a child that shared their blood. She would have close calls with families, but by the age of 10, she had given up all hope. She was a permanent run away by age 15 and in jail before her 18th birthday, where she would give a son up for adoption.

 

Alice bounced around homes just like her sister, but she had it a bit worse. While Emma knew nothing of their pasts, Alice could remember everything. She tried to tell people of who she really was-a princess, born to a queen, a shepherd turned prince and a pirate turned knight. No one believed her and as she got older, insisting it to be true, they assumed she was mad. Soon, Alice wondered if what she knew to be true, really was. She spent her teen years in and out of insane asylums. When she finally escaped, she made her way to Storybrooke, Maine. It was there she knew that she hadn’t been crazy all those years. Her parents were still young, but there was no doubting who they were.

 

She made friends with her papa, now a detective, and it wasn’t long before he invited her to move in with him. She thought that true love’s kiss would break the curse, but when she kissed his cheek while he was sleeping…nothing happened. Her mother, a teacher, and her daddy, the owner of a pet store, didn’t seem to remember who they truly were. Alice was so close to her parents…yet so far.

 

Then Mary Margaret gave Henry the storybook and soon he dragged Emma Swan to town. She knew that had to be her sister, yet there was no convincing her of that. She watched as she had a power struggle with the town’s mayor, Zelena West, who kept intruding on her open adoption plan with Henry-despite her only being his aunt and his mother, Regina, having no issue with it.

 

Finally, it happened. Henry ate Zelena’s turnover and Emma woke him with true love’s kiss. As it turned out, it had to be done by the savior.

 

“Alice!” She heard her name being called on the streets shortly after it had broken. She turned to find her parents standing there, in awe.

“Mommy! Daddy! Papa!”

 

She ran into their outstretched arms, allowing them to hug her tight. It felt so good to be back in their arms, feeling their kisses being pressed to her face and head. They pulled apart after a moment, taking her in. All of them had tears in their eyes, especially Killian.

 

“Oh Starfish,” he whispered. “You’ve…”

“Grown up?” She suggested with a small shrug, which just made them frown. “Hey, it’s okay. I found my way home.”

“We never wanted to let you go…”

“I know. I’m not mad at you. I never forgot where I belonged.”

Grumpy, or Leroy as he was known in Storybrooke, stepped forward. “Not to be rude…but what now?”

“Now,” Snow smiled, touching Alice’s cheek. “Now, I find my other daughter.”

“So, it’s true.”

 

They all turned around to find Emma standing there. They had all gotten to know her under the curse. While Alice had been living with Killian, Emma had with “Mary Margaret”. She had been best friends with her, Alice too. (Though, she often got annoyed with the latter for “encouraging” Henry’s belief in the book.) Slowly, they all walked closer to her. In some ways, she looked like Alice, but in others, she was just like her mother. Snow touched her chin, the tears falling faster.

 

“You found us,” she choked out.

 

She enveloped Emma in a big hug. David, Killian and Alice joined it, watching as David cradled the back of Emma’s head, just as she had when she was a baby. They all stayed like that for what seemed like forever, rejoicing in the fact that they were reunited. Something felt off, though, to Alice at first. She didn’t know what it was until Henry spoke up.

 

“Grandpa?” He asked David.

David chuckled, pulling away as Snow and Killian let out hearty laughs. “I suppose so, bud.” He wrapped an arm around him, pulling him close.

 

It was only then that Alice saw the look on Emma’s face. She was shocked, there was no doubt that all of them were. But there was more there…almost like she wasn’t as happy as the rest of them.

* * *

 

The next few days were an adjustment period. Regina took over as mayor, locking Zelena away to make sure that she couldn’t hurt anyone else. Snow, David and Killian helped people reunite with their families, while getting to reconnect with their own.

 

Emma watched it all, feeling a dull ache in her heart. They had explained to her why they gave her away and Alice was there to back them up that had they not done what they did, they’d probably all be dead. She got why they were apart, that’s not what hurt. It wasn’t the fact that she had been alone. No, she had started seeing Archie for her problems under the curse, as had Alice.

 

It was the fact that she felt like an outsider in her own home.

 

Her parents had all these little nicknames for Alice, they had all these memories of her and she had ones of them. Every conversation seemed to start off with “Do you remember…?” Soon, they’d all be laughing over something funny Alice had done or an embarrassing parent moment on David, Snow or Killian’s parts. Alice had only been 4 when she went through the wardrobe, but it was clear that she had an elephant’s memory.

 

Emma wasn’t apart of any of the memories. She knew it wasn’t their fault, she had read the book. She was only mere minutes old when David had put her in Alice’s arms and closed the doors to the wardrobe. She couldn’t help but feel jealous…like she just didn’t belong.

 

It wasn’t just their parents, though. It was the whole town. They all knew her family so well, better than she did. There were these little looks that Ruby would give Alice when she ordered marmalade toast for breakfast and tease her over how much she ate it when she was little. Geppetto had carved her starfish earrings, remembering it was her nickname from her papa.

 

They all made an effort to get to know Emma and she let them in as much as she felt comfortable. Still, they were all things that they should’ve already known. Ruby would’ve known that grilled cheese and hot cocoa were her favorites, long before she showed up to Storybrooke. Leroy wouldn’t find it odd that she didn’t like dressing up and wouldn’t have eyed her weirdly for wearing jeans to their celebration of the curse breaking.

 

The celebration was just too much for her handle. She tried to keep on a brave face, mostly hanging out with Henry, but even he was busy. He was a kid, he wanted to play with his friends and she understood that. She drifted back towards her other family, who were all talking. Snow gave her a big smile and David looped his arm through hers. They were trying and she knew that. Which just made it hurt all the more.

 

Regina grinned as she sipped her cider. “Do you remember when Alice was convinced that if something had fruit in it, she could enjoy as much as she wanted? She devoured all of my apple tarts in one party.”

Alice groaned at the memory, patting her stomach. “It had apple in the title! I was 3!”

“She was retching up apples for three days,” Killian said with a chuckle.

Snow wrinkled her nose. “If I didn’t hate those things already, I certainly would’ve after that.” She ruffled Alice’s hair. “Always giving us heart attacks, this one.”

Alice playfully rolled her eyes. “Sorry, Mama.”

“Aw, it was worth every bit of it.”

“Agreed,” David nodded. “Every sleepless night, every tantrum or fever. We had some great years with you, Bunny.”

 

Emma bit her lip and slipped away from his arm. She looked around at the crowd of people, the ones who didn’t have any memories of her childhood. The ones who couldn’t tell her a thing of what she was like when she was too young to remember it. There was no doubting that blood made her apart of this family, but she sure didn’t feel like it.

 

“I um, I’m tired,” she said, interrupting the conversation. “I think I’m gonna head home.”

“I’ll walk you,” David offered.

She shook her head. “It’s okay. You guys have fun, reminisce about old times.”

 

Before anyone could argue with her, she was out the door.

* * *

 

Emma stayed curled up on her bed for the rest of the night. Killian, David and Alice had moved in with her and Snow after the curse broke. It was the smallest place out of all of theirs, so she wasn’t sure why, but she hadn’t argued. There was a spare bed in her room, which Alice now occupied. On the top of it was her favorite stuffed animal, Mr. Rabbit. It made Emma feel a little better that she hid her baby blanket under her comforter.

 

She pretended to be asleep when they all came home from the party. Alice slid into her own bed and said goodnight to her parents, accepting goodnight hugs and kisses. They moved to Emma, doing the same to her, despite them believing she wasn’t awake. She silently cried once they left. They were trying so hard and yet…it hurt.

 

As the tears got worse, she decided to be better safe than sorry and made her way up onto the roof. She had spent many a night up there with “Mary Margaret” under the curse, drinking and talking about everything. One night stands, how crappy Killian and David had been (the latter cursed to be married/a cheater and the other, a womanizer who slept with anyone with a pulse) and all of their fights with “Mayor West”.

 

Now, she sat with one of her fleece blankets wrapped around her, staring out at the stars. She was alone, crying. She felt stupid, ungrateful.

 

“Emma?” She heard David’s voice coming from behind her and she quickly wiped away her tears, turning around to look at him. “What are you doing out here?”

“Nothing. What about you?”

“I came to see if you girls needed an extra blanket and saw you were gone.” He dropped down next to her and studied her face in the moonlight. “You’re not okay.”

“David…”

“Emma.”

She sighed, pulling the blanket tighter around her. He removed his robe and handed it to her. “You don’t have to.”

“I don’t want you catching a cold.”

 

Having people that cared, that was new for her too. She accepted the thick robe and put it on, tying it tightly around her body. It smelled like him, like all her parents actually.

 

“So, you want to tell me why you’re really out here?” When she was quiet, David tried another approach. “Or why you really left the party early?”

“I told you, I was tired.”

“Your mom says you like to say you have a lie detector. I think you got it from me.”

Emma sighed, stretching her legs out. He wasn’t going anywhere, clearly. “I don’t belong here.”

“What? Emma, of course you do, you’re our daughter…”

“I know. I know I’m apart of this family, biologically. And I know you’re all trying, this isn’t your fault.”

“Then what? What aren’t we doing?”

“It’s nothing you can fix,” Emma said, refusing to meet his worried gaze. “You guys just have all these memories of where you’re from, of raising Alice. You can tell her stuff that she doesn’t remember, she has memories of you guys…”

“But you don’t have any of us,” he whispered.

Emma shrugged. “And it’s not like you guys can tell me anything about me.”

 

Silence fell over the rooftop once again. A few more tears rolled down Emma’s cheeks and she held David’s robe closer to her. Then, out of nowhere, he spoke again.

 

“You wiggled a lot.”

Emma looked up at him. “Huh?”

“You wiggled a lot, when you were first born.” He wistfully smiled at the memory. “I thought I’d drop you, you didn’t stop moving.”

 

Emma grew quiet once more, not wanting to interrupt him or do anything to make him stop. She hung on his every word.

 

“You cried a bit when you were born, then when I took you from your mom. Then I was fighting the knights…”

“You fought knights with me?!?”

David grinned, proudly. “Damn straight. You were a little trooper, didn’t make a sound. I didn’t realize that until I reached the nursery and you were quiet. Just staring up at me with those big green eyes, so alert.” He stroked her chin. “I knew you were just like your mother, a little warrior.”

Emma blinked a few times to rid the tears. “Wow.”

“We may not be able to tell you a lot, Emma,” David said. “But we do have a few stories. Like when your mom was pregnant and she couldn’t stomach any vegetables, every time she ate a salad, you threw a fit. She’d have heartburn or you’d kick up a storm in there.”

She laughed a little. “Guess even back then I knew they sucked.”

“We prepared your nursery, so it’d be perfect for your arrival. Alice picked out so many stuffed animals when we went to the markets, she was so excited to be a big sister.”

Emma yawned, inching closer to him. “What else?”

“Well, if I told you all of them tonight, then we wouldn’t have any for tomorrow, now would we?” He wrapped an arm around her. “How about we get you back to bed and then tomorrow, we’ll tell you some more? I’m sure your papa, mom and sister have lots more.”

“Okay.” Emma stood up with him and started to follow him back to the ladder that would lead down to her room. “Thanks…Dad.”

Tears glistened his eyes and he tightened his grip on her. “No problem, kiddo.”

 

Once she was tucked back in bed (he let her keep his robe), David headed back down to his own. They had found their old bed frame and mattress in the back of Gold’s shop shortly after the curse broke and it was huge, but it reminded them of home and it fit them all. He carefully made his way back into the middle of his spouses.

 

“Where were you?” Snow asked without opening her eyes, tightening her grip on him.

“Talking with Emma.” He smiled a bit, his eyes shutting. “I won by the way, she called me dad.”

 

Snow and Killian half-groaned, having lost that bet. Deep down, they were happy, though. Emma was slowly opening up to them. They finally had their family back.

* * *

 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by loboselinaistrash: “This is not a negotiation.” For Charming family pretty please!

_20 years ago_

Emma sat in front of the T.V with her other foster brothers and sisters. Despite this foster home not being the best, once a week, they’d all gather around and watch a movie. It made Emma feel like she was a part of a family, even if it was only for a few minutes. That night, the father had selected Peter Pan. Emma had heard tales about him in the past, but this was her first time actually seeing the cartoon.

 

It was idyllic. A boy coming through your window and bringing you to a magical place, where no one grew up. The older she got, the chances of her being adopted became slimmer. In Neverland, though, they were a family. Peter Pan protected the Lost Boys and he was willing to let Wendy be a Lost Girl, if she really wanted to.

 

That night, when she was shuffled into a room that all the girls shared, she lingered by the window. Slowly, she opened it and looked out at the night sky. She could see the second star to the right and shut her eyes, making a wish.

 

“Save me, Peter Pan,” she whispered. “Take me to Neverland.”

 

_Present Day_

Emma sat on the floor of the living room, going through “Mary Margaret’s” VHS collection. Zelena had cursed her to have it all, it seemed, even those that had come out after the 1980s. Snow had discovered Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in the apartment and wanted it gone.

 

“Don’t be a spoil sport, Mama,” Alice gently teased. “It’s not so bad.”

“It got nothing right,” Snow mumbled with an eye roll. “Made it seem like I was some damsel in distress! I was a bandit!”

“Plus, it doesn’t have one of her dashing husbands,” Killian said with a wink, stealing a kiss from her.

David nodded in agreement. “And makes the other look like he didn’t do anything but kiss her awake.”

“Did you really do more than that?” Emma asked, half-seriously.

“Um, I saved your mother’s life a few times.”

“Right.”

“You read the book and you seriously don’t believe me?”

Emma winked. “Maybe not.”

He let out an exaggerated sigh and sat next to her. “What else do we have in here?” He pulled out Cinderella. “Yikes, don’t show this to Ella.”

“There’s one I’ve been looking for,” Emma mumbled, searching through the box some more. “There we go.” She pulled out a blue case. “Peter Pan.”

Killian stiffened. “What?”

“It’s got you in it. It was my favorite movie as a kid.”

 

All of the room got suddenly quiet. Killian walked over and plucked the movie out of her hands, examining the back of it. His muscles tightened and he brought it over to the trash bin, throwing it in there. Emma gasped.

 

“Hey!”

“We don’t need that movie. You let Snow and David get rid of theirs, I don’t want mine here.”

“They didn’t get as weird about it as you. It’s just an adaption.”

“And it isn’t accurate. Not even in the slightest.”

“I know you’re a villain in it…”

“I am not the bloody villain there.”

 

Emma tilted her head. Killian had been the town grump under the curse, but he had been much different when it broke. This was the first time he had come close to being “firm” with Emma.

 

“This is not a negotiation,” he said. “This movie doesn’t stay here.”

 

Emma looked around at the room for help, but even Alice seemed off. She knew that her parents knew more about these fairytales than she did, but it was just weird. Peter Pan had played such an important part to her childhood. She had never been a huge Snow White fan (though, if Walt Disney had gotten it right, she certainly would have been). This was different, though, and clearly Killian was trying to erase its existence.

 

Talking about it with him was clearly not going to get her anywhere, so Emma waited until they were all going to bed that night. Alice walked up the steps to their loft, having just brushed her teeth.

 

“You wanna tell me what all of that was about?” Emma asked.

Alice tilted her head. “What?”

“Papa…that whole Peter Pan freak out.”

“They just…have a history.”

“He was pretty insistent that Peter was a villain.”

Alice sighed, sitting on the bed. “Don’t get me wrong, Papa used to be one too. He was sailing through Neverland and well, I don’t know everything…but Papa always told me to never follow him if he came.”

“Why? I mean…I get him not wanting to lose you…but what’s so wrong with Peter Pan?”

“He’s not the lovable cartoon icon he is here. I don’t know much about what he does, all I know is that Papa doesn’t want us going anywhere near him.”

* * *

 

Emma woke up in the middle of the night, to something she had ever since she had come to Storybrooke. There were children crying. It was distant, yet so close. She had investigated the area numerous times, but came up with nothing. There were no children in the building and Mary Margaret had never seemed to hear it. Emma wondered if she was just crazy.

 

That night, however, it seemed to be getting closer. She got out of bed and headed towards the stairs that lead up to the roof. Grabbing onto the sword she was given to fight the dragon, she carefully headed up the steps. She had heard legends when she was younger, about people using recordings of crying babies to rob houses and she wasn’t about to let that happen.

 

When she reached the roof, however, she found a young boy. He was probably a little older than Henry, but not by much. He was wearing clothes that obviously belonged where her parents were from and unlike the noises she had heard, he wasn’t crying. No, he had a huge grin on his face.

 

“Heard the noises, did you?” He asked.

Emma drew closer, sword in hand. This boy appeared to be a child, but she knew all too well that things in this town weren’t what they appeared to be. “Who are you and what are you doing here?”

“The name,” he hopped to his feet. “Is Peter Pan.”

She paused. “The Peter Pan?”

“The very one you dreamed of all those years ago.”

“How…how do you know of my dreams?”

“I can hear the cries of all the lost children, just as they can all hear the cries of each other.” He lifted a box and opened it, causing the cries that Emma heard nightly to come pouring out. Emma bit her lip, cringing with each and every wail. “Oh, poor Emma. Still an orphan.”

Emma slowly lowered her sword, while still keeping her guard up. “If I dreamed of you and you knew I was lost, why didn’t you ever come?”

“This world…it works differently. I used to take children from here but things got messy. We could easily be exposed. In Storybrooke, however,” his smile turned to a sickening one. “Well, you all know what we are.”

“I’m not a little girl anymore. I don’t need you to come and save me.”

“You may be all grown up, but have you considered the fact that you’re still a lost girl?” Pan sauntered closer to her and despite the height difference, she felt slightly intimidated. “You told your father on this very roof that you didn’t feel like you belonged, not too long ago.”

“You were listening?”

“I hear all.”

“They love me. They’re my family.”

“You can say that as much as you want, but you don’t believe it. You never had a chance to be a kid, Emma. You grew up way too fast.” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny vile of glowing liquid. “I can fix that?”

“You mean…turn me into a child again?”

“You can come with me to Neverland, be the Wendy to the Lost Boys, just like in your favorite movie. You won’t be alone anymore, you can be among those who truly understand you.”

 

Before Emma could even think about anything he had just said, Pan looked up and chuckled.

  
“Captain Hook, I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Emma turned to find one of her fathers standing there, holding a bow and arrow. “Step away from my daughter or you’ll regret it.”

“We were just having a little chat. Seems that she can hear the cries of the Lost Boys. You know what that means, don’t you?”

Killian’s face turned pale, but he did his best to remain unfazed. “You are not taking her with you.”

“Now, shouldn’t that be up to Emma?”

“She may feel like an orphan, but she’s not one. I am not about to let you hurt her. So, step away or you can get a hearty dose of dream shade.”

 

Emma looked between the two of them. A real life faceoff between Captain Hook and Peter Pan, it was something she always dreamed of witnessing. She just never assumed it’d be Hook trying to protect her.

 

Pan smirked, tucking the vile back into his pocket. “You call me if you want to have a little fun, Emma. My Lost Boys will always have a spot for you.”

 

With that, he disappeared in a cloud of red smoke. Hook put down his bow and arrows, letting out a deep breath. He looked over Emma, putting his hand on her shoulder.

 

“Are you okay? He didn’t hurt you, did he?”

“No, no. I’m fine.” She could see the haunted look in his eyes. “What is so bad about him?”

“He’s a villain, Emma. He takes children and makes them his prisoners. Those Lost Boys? They’re not his family, they’re his soldiers. They’re trained to kill, taught to believe that no one really loves them, which is why they need him.” He shook his head. “He’s pure evil.”

“That’s why you don’t want us to have the movie,” she whispered.

“I know I wasn’t perfect there, but I saw far too many children suffering.” He stepped closer to her, his eyes filled with pain. “But you…you can hear the Lost Boys crying.”

“Ever since I moved to Storybrooke, I could hear children sobbing and screaming. I didn’t know what it was at first.”

“I…I don’t understand. You have a family now.” He paused. “But you still feel like an orphan.”

“Papa…”

He blinked a few times. “You can tell me the truth.”

She sighed. “I’m glad I have you all, I really am. It…it just doesn’t change how things were.”

“Right.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Oh Munchkin.” He softly smiled. “Don’t be sorry. This isn’t your fault. You may feel like a Lost Girl…but we’re going to do what we need to, to make sure you don’t feel like that anymore.”

“I don’t know if that’s possible.”

“I do.” He kissed her forehead.

* * *

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompted by loboselinaistrash: Detective Snowing Version of the Charming Family “Knives are not always meant to stab.” pretty please

Snow hadn’t had a best friend until Ruby.

 

Mary Margaret hadn’t had one until Emma. Her past memories were all blurry, but much like Snow White, while she was friendly and could make friends…she never had a best friend. Emma was the first person to listen and Mary Margaret had done the same in return. They had a bond that no one could really explain. Practical strangers that had somehow become each other’s confidants. They believed in one another, even when the chips were stacked against them.

 

Now, the curse was broken and they weren’t best friends anymore, but mother and daughter. Snow gained all her best friends back: Ruby, David, Killian and Regina. Yet, she noticed that Emma didn’t have that. August hadn’t stuck around in Storybrooke for long after the curse broke and while she had Alice, their relationship was also awkward and they were still finding solid ground. Killian and David were doing the same with her.

 

Snow knew her daughter, though. She had expected her cursed memories to fade, but they didn’t. She remembered every single thing and what she had learned to help Emma.

 

So, when she came home one afternoon and found Emma stabbing the toaster…she knew she was the one for the job.

 

“Knives are not always meant to stab, you know,” she said.

Emma looked up. “I’ll get you a new one.”

“Not what I’m worried about.” She plopped down next to her. “What’s going on?”

“Pan’s out there and we can’t find him.”

Snow frowned. Her husband had told her about the piper coming to visit their daughter and the reasons surrounding it broke her heart. “You will, you all will.”

“Right. I haven’t been able to do anything.”

“Emma…”

“I wasn’t even the one to lock up Zelena,” she interrupted. “My magic…I can’t even use it.” She threw her hands up in the air. “Or not well, anyway. What kind of savior am I, if I can’t save everyone.”

“Hey.” Snow touched her chin. “You did your job as the savior, you broke the curse. And that wasn’t even fair to be put on you, when you were just a baby.”

“Still. I’m supposed to bring back the happy endings. How can any of us be happy with all of this?”

“We are happy. Look around, we’re reunited, we’re a family.” She smiled. “I have my husbands back, I have my baby girls too.”

Emma rolled her eyes. “Not a baby.”

“Always my baby.” Snow kissed her forehead and gently wrenched the knife out of her hand. “Just…no more stabbing the toaster, okay? I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

“I’m serious, Emma…about both things. You don’t have to save all of us. This kingdom…or town, I should say, we’re a team. Nothing is a solo mission.”

 

Emma didn’t look convinced, but Snow’s smile was encouraging. Maybe she was right, maybe she didn’t have to be alone anymore.

 

“What if we can’t get rid of him,” Emma whispered, sounding scared for the first time in forever. “What if…what if he takes me?”

Snow put the knife and toaster down. “Emma, that’s not going to happen.”

“He almost did. Mom…I can still…I can hear the crying.” She bit her lip. “What if he tricks me? Before he left, August told me about a friend of his he tricked to go off with him.”

“We are not going to let him hurt you, ever.” Snow put her hands on Emma’s cheeks. “We are going to find a way to get rid of him and he’s never going to hurt any child or you or Alice.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know that I am not going to be separated from my daughters again. So, if Pan wants to take you, he’ll have to through me.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> loboselinaistrash prompted: 46. “Hey, I know you’re hurting.. but, you’re not alone, okay?” (I don't know why I'm letting myself in for this angst) Also literally any verse you want, you know they'll all make me cry lol.

Maybe they should’ve known better. They say don’t take candy from strangers, so sure enough you shouldn’t open presents from secret admirers.

 

Alice and Emma had been home alone when there was a knock at the door. There were two matching white boxes, tied with green ribbon and cards that read their names. They shared an odd look before removing it and finding a half a locket in each of them. There was a note inside the one addressed to Emma.

 

_To the sisters, who never got a fair chance._

They shrugged and put the lockets on. Emma opened hers, only to find it had a picture of her when she was a child in it. She didn’t recognize the outfit and had no clue how the person had gotten the picture of her. Outside her time with Ingrid and maybe the rare picture day, she never had pictures taken of her when she was that. Alice was looking at hers with also great curiosity, before glancing at Emma’s.

 

“It looks like we’re standing in the same place,” she said.

“That’s impossible, we didn’t meet until I came to Storybrooke.”

“Perhaps our paths crossed before then.”

“There’s only one way to tell.”

 

Emma tilted her head and Alice nodded, bringing the lockets together. They glowed upon touching and a bright light overtook both of the girls.

* * *

 

Killian, Snow and David rarely had a date night. They knew that was more on them than anything. Their girls were old enough to stay home alone, they were grown women after all. Still, they found themselves wanting to spend as much time together as possible. Alice and Emma had convinced them it’d be okay to go out and have some fun. They had dinner at the Italian restaurant in town before taking  nice walk under the moonlight.

 

As they walked through the door to the loft, they noticed something was off. A cool breeze was throughout it, which was weird considering the girls normally kept the loft very warm. Snow’s eyes went to the window above her bed and saw that it was broken.

 

“Where are the girls?” She asked, looking around.

 

Killian and David grabbed their guns, running around the loft. Snow raced up the stairs to their room, which seemed empty at first. She was about to go back down, when she heard muffled voices from the closet. She threw open the door and found a young girl sitting in there, she couldn’t be older than 11 or 12 years old. She had straight blonde hair and big blue eyes. She was wearing a white dress with flowers covering it. Snow dropped to her knees as she studied her scared face.

 

“Alice,” she whispered.

“Mommy!”

 

She threw her arms around her neck and Snow lifted her into her arms, cuddling her close. She kissed her cheek, trying to stay calm.

 

“Sweetheart, what happened?”

“I…I haven’t seen you in forever. Not since you put me in the wardrobe.”

“What? Bunny, I just saw you tonight.”

Alice shook her head. “Nuh uh.”

 

Snow carried her daughter downstairs and her husbands turned to her, quickly putting their weapons away. They rushed to their wife’s side and Killian took Alice into his arms, frowning.

 

“What is going on?” He whispered.

“I don’t know. I found her in the closet upstairs,” Snow replied. “Did you guys find Emma?”

“No, she’s not anywhere in here. She wasn’t upstairs?”

 

Snow shook her head, a sinking feeling filling their chests. Killian adjusted Alice and put a hand on her face.

 

“Starfish, what happened?”

“I was with Emma, though, she was a lot bigger since the last time I saw her. She was almost my age,” Alice explained. “Then this boy came in, he said that we didn’t have to be lost anymore. I recognized who he was from your stories, Papa. It was Peter Pan.”

Killian swallowed, hard. “What did he do?”

“He wanted to take us. I ran and hid in the closet, I tried to get Emma to come with me but she said she wanted to go with him.” She frowned. “I’m sorry.”

“Oh, lovebug.” David rubbed her back soothingly. “It’s okay, it’s not your fault. We’re going to find your sister, don’t you worry.”

 

Without saying much to one another, the three adults agreed that Killian would stay behind with Alice. He’d call Regina and fill her in on the situation, making sure they had backup. Snow and David would go looking for their youngest daughter. Using a locator spell that Emma kept at the station for emergencies, they poured it on her baby blanket, allowing it to lead the way.

 

They soon found themselves in the middle of the woods. The blanket glowed further when it reached a treehouse. They quickly scaled it and found Pan standing there, a sick grin on his face. Using the flashlight in his hands, David went from him to the tiny blonde that was standing beside him. She had green eyes and her hair was curled, thick. It looked just like Snow’s had once upon a time, with David’s coloring.

 

“Emma,” David breathed.

“It’s no use, _Charming_ ,” Pan taunted. “She doesn’t know you.”

He ignored her, taking a step closer to his daughter. “Emma, it’s me. It’s your dad.”

 

Emma reached into her pocket for something and soon was holding a pocket knife. The sight alone was enough to make Snow and David jump. Sure, they had seen Emma with weapons before, but this was different. She looked around the same age as Alice, wearing a torn grey beanie and green flannel. The outfit and weapon matched up, but they were both too adult for her now tiny body.

 

“You abandoned me,” Emma whispered harshly.”

“No, Em, I…” David trailed off, stopping himself. “We had to put you and Alice in the wardrobe, we had to save you from Zelena. She was going to kill both of you. Just please, come home with me and Mommy, we can help you.”

“I don’t need your help. I have Pan, he says that he has a new family for me, a real one. One that will understand me.”

 

Snow adjusted the bow and arrow that was on her body, aiming it straight for Pan. She would do anything to protect her little girl, even if it meant having to face this demon. David, however, lowered his sword to the ground.

 

“David, what are you doing?”

“You have him, I’m going to get our daughter.” David held his hands in the air, allowing himself to be totally vulnerable. “I get it, Emma. You’re scared, you don’t trust us. You’ve been through a hell of a lot.”

“You don’t know me,” Emma shot back.

“I do. You see, Emma, we’ve reconnected before. You were opening up to us, you knew how much we love you.”

“They’re lying to you, Emma,” Pan told her, putting a hand on her shoulder. “They’re going to hurt you.”

“I’d never hurt you, Princess.” David kept one hand in the air while also reaching down and grabbing her blanket. “I have this, your blanket.”

Emma tilted her head. “How did you get that?”

“You brought it with you, when you moved in with Mommy. You two became a family, then me, Papa and Ali joined you.”

 

He could see the hesitance in her eyes. She pulled away from Pan, but didn’t take any steps towards her parents.

 

“You’ve been through more than any child ever should,” David continued. “It’s terrible.” He saw the tears brim up in her eyes. “Hey, I know you’re hurting.. but, you’re not alone, okay? I’m here, Mommy’s here. Papa and Ali will be here for you too.” He held out his hand. “Please, I believe in you. Can you believe in me?”

 

Emma stared at him for a few moments, before taking a step forward, followed by another. She took his hand and he let out a deep breath, pulling her into his arms. Pan went to grab her, but Snow shot an arrow. Pan laughed as he grabbed hold of it before it could pierce his chest.

 

“Not as smart as you look, Snow White.”

“Oh, I am. That’s why I had my husband coat the tip.”

 

Pan looked down at the arrow and tried to move, but he was stuck. Snow and David climbed back down the ladder, knowing they didn’t have long before he was no longer paralyzed. They raced down the block to their car, gently strapping Emma in the back.

 

What would happen next was a mystery, but at least both of their girls were safe.


End file.
